The bandwidth of the new interface is huge
Intel yesterday introduced the Thunderbolt 5 interface with a gigantic throughput of 120 Gbps. By comparison, USB4 is only capable of transferring 20 Gbps, while Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are limited to 40 Gbps. Such a huge increase in throughput provides great opportunities. Intel itself believes that the emergence of Thunderbolt 5 will lead to a revival of the external video card market.
We’ve also seen external graphics connected via Thunderbolt over the years, and I think with the new version doubling the bandwidth we’ll see a resurgence in this category
Intel believes Thunderbolt 5 will revive the external graphics
The company also believes that Thunderbolt 5 can make it so that not only external video cards will appear, but also external AI accelerators.
I think in the next few years we may start to see some external AI accelerator products because of the desire for AI in the client space.
Let us remind you that Thunderbolt 5 allows you to connect up to three 4K screens with a frequency of up to 144 Hz and transmit up to 240 W of power. The first laptops with Thunderbolt 5 are expected after the release of Meteor Lake processors, but probably as early as next year.
